


New Beginnings ?

by MelindaTheCavalryMay



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas Time, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Philinda Week, might be multi chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 08:25:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3043700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaTheCavalryMay/pseuds/MelindaTheCavalryMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda May doesn't want to be alone for Christmas. So her best friend plays a saviour. With Christmas time around, is it time for some new beginnings ?</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginnings ?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Philinda Fandom](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Philinda+Fandom).



> I don't own AoS, just a big fan. Might be a multi chapter fic depending on the reviews ;)

Melinda liked Christmas, a lot. She wasn’t someone to go all crazy with Christmas shopping and decorations, but she really enjoyed the spirit of Christmas festivities, she would use simple lightings to decorate her house, bake some cookies, buy a Christmas tree and decorate it. 

Christmas week at May’s house used to be rather a silent event, her mom would visit her, like she always had, ever since she had moved to New York, which was almost 15 years back, she had come here as a student and ever since that time, this city had become a part of her life. 

This Christmas, however was going to be different, firstly her mom couldn’t make it to Melinda's place for Christmas, she had to fly over to London to visit her sister who was sick, and Melinda really didn’t really prefer to be alone this year, especially since her 4 year old had started to go to Preschool and thanks to that, he found out about a variety of things one could do for this festival and now he was way too excited to do almost everything. 

So when she was invited by her friend, to tag along with them for the Christmas trip to their family home in Scoharie County, she didn't really refuse. Firstly because, Leo could get a chance to have a proper Christmas time, since he couldn't have one here and also because she would get a break too, managing a hyper active 4 year old, alone, during the holiday season wasn't really an easy task. 

"Mamma Mamma ..." Leo came in rushing through the door. He looked frazzled, tensed. He was indeed an adorable kid. Looked very much like his dad, curly hair, adorable smile and a crazy love for science and science fictions. It had been almost 2 years since Leo's dad and Melinda had divorced,even longer since they'd separated and James had moved back to London, leaving Melinda with Leo and since last year they couldn't really celebrate Christmas because Leo stayed with her mother while Melinda had a sudden surgery to perform in the last minute, she really wanted to give Leo everything he wanted this Christmas, to make this one special for him. 

Melinda moved away from her bed, where she was busy packing for the trip, and got down on her knees to meet Leo at his eye level, holding him by his arms and said calmly "hey calm down sweety, no need to rush" 

Leo nodded his head as fast as he could, he curly hair bouncing as he did that.   
Melinda lifted Leo off the floor and sat on the bed, helping the kid to climb into her lap. "So what seems to be the problem ?" She asked him.   
"I don't know if I should take my Captain America toy or my Yoda toy along for the trip" he asked showing her both of them. 

Pressing her lips together, close knitting her eyebrows to act as if it was really a very big issue, Melinda said "hmm that seems to be a big problem"   
"Of course it is, if I take Captain, Yoda will get sad and if I take Yoda, Captain will get sad" he said with a horrified expression, that Melinda found absolutely adorable. 

"Well In that case we have one solution only left, why don't we leave both of them here" she said with a teasing voice just to see Leo's reaction. 

"You know I can't do that, who will I play with then ?" Leo asked shocked. 

"Well there's gonna be another kid for you to play with Leo" Melinda replied. 

"But she's a girrrrlllllll ... I don't wanna play dress up and stuff, it's boring" Leo replied. Melinda couldn't help but laugh at the pout Leo made. He was certainly such an adorable kid. 

"Well in that case what do say we take both of them ?" Melinda asked raising her eyebrows. 

Leo jumped off her lap onto the floor and turned around to look at her "really ?" He asked. 

"Sure thing kid, but only if you promise to let her play with your toys as well" Melinda replied. 

Leo thought for a while and finally nodded. 

The ring of the doorbell brought an end to the discussion and Leo started rushing downstairs towards the door. 

"Leo calm down, or you'll trip over the stairs." Melinda said following the kid.

Leo stood near the door, waiting his mom to come and open it. He was an enthusiastic kid, but he followed rules very well. Melinda had made sure of that, following rules was in itself a rule in the house, it'd been like that when Melinda was growing up and would be so for Leo too. 

Melinda opened the door as Leo hid behind her legs. Even though he was a pocket sized powerhouse at home, he could become a really shy kid with meeting new people. 

As Melinda opened the door, she saw her best friend Phil standing there with a smile on his face. He was carrying a bag with one hand while the other was wrapped securely around the kid who clung to him tightly with her arms wrapped around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. 

"Hey" Phil said with a smile. 

"Hey" Melinda said. After a second's pause she said "come in please". She opened the door for him to enter, taking the bag from his hand. 

Before closing the door, she looked outside and had noticed that the weather had taken a much worse turn, it felt like a snowstorm would occur soon and realised that maybe they might have to change plans.

"Hey Skye" Melinda said softly walking over to Phil's side to take a look at the girl's face. 

The girl immediately turned her head and buried herself in the crook of Phil's neck. 

"Sorry, she injured her thumb by mistake and has been crying for quite some time" Phil said shyly. 

"Oh! Hope it's ok, should I get some medicine or something ?" Melinda replied. 

"No no! That's fine, I checked it out, nothing major, but you know how kids can be" Phil answer

She realised they had still been standing there in the living room in the midst of an awkward silence. "Please make yourself comfortable, do you want something to drink ? Or does she want something ?" Melinda asked to break the silence. 

"I'd just like a glass of water" he said and continued to try and remove the girl who was holding him tighter he said "hey baby girl, you want something ?" He asked softly. The girl simply refused shaking her head. 

Melinda gave him a small smile and turned to see Leo wasn't there behind her. 

"Leo, honey, come here" Melinda said. "We've got some guests" 

She looked at Phil again who smiled at her. Slowly from behind the curtains which were used as a partition between the living room and the rest of the house, Phil could see someone peeping out. 

"Hey Leo" Phil said. 

Without completely stepping out Leo answered softly, almost in a hushing tone"Hi". 

Melinda walked over to him and asked "Hey come out little guy, you should go over to them and say hi" 

Leo shook his head refusing. Melinda looked from behind the curtain at Phil who was sitting there on the couch, His daughter still gripping him tightly, and gave him a guilty smile. 

"Why don't you wanna go and say hi ?" Melinda asked.

"I don't know, I'm feeling shy" Leo replied. He was such an adorable kid, and very cute too, though he hated being called that. 

"I've brought gifts for you Leo" Phil replied from the living room. 

Melinda could see how Leo's face lit up on the mention of gifts and a smile had come on his face. 

"Still don't wanna go and meet them kid ?" Melinda asked. 

Biting his lip a bit, feeling shy, Leo stepped out from behind the curtains. He clasped his hands behind himself, and looking down while glancing up to take a peak at Phil, he slowly made way to him. 

"Hello, I'm Leopold Laurie May" the kid said once he stood in front of Phil. 

"Hello, I'm Phillip Coulson" Phil replied with a smile putting forward his hand for Leo to shake it. 

He noticed Leo looking at the girl he was holding as whispered to her "hey baby girl, look someone wants to say hi to you" 

She slowly turned her head away from Phil's neck, still resting it on his shoulder. Leo walked over to the side and looked at her with a huge smile saying "Hey, I'm Leo" noticing that it was a kid Skye lift her head up, wriggled out of Phil grasp and said with a small smile on her face as well "I'm Skye Daisy Coulson". 

Leo held his hand forward for Skye to shake it but Skye didn't. She dropped her head and started sniffing and trying to hold her tears and said "I can't, I injured my thumb" and showed her hand to Leo. 

Melinda had entered around that time with water, and a tea kettle, also 2 huge cups. What she saw could be undoubtedly one of the most adorable scenes. The way the 2 kids were speaking, she couldn't help but smile and glanced at Phil who was doing the same. 

"Oh, don't worry, my mamma is a srurgen, she will take care of it" Leo said with a smile. 

Skye looked at him with a wide eyed expression and nodded as if trusting what he said. 

"You will take care of that ? Right mamma" Leo asked looking at Melinda. 

"Of course I will, and hey it's a surgeon not whatever you were saying" Melinda replied with a smile. 

She walked over to Skye and got down on her knees, carefully taking her little palm in hers she looked at it. The injury wasn't very big as such, well it could even not be considered an injury seeing how tiny it was, but still she looked at Leo "so doctor do you have your medical kit handy ?" She asked. 

"Yeah!!!!" Leo answered enthusiastically and ran off to his room. Within a minute he was back, carrying a little box with 'Dr. Leo's Medical Kit' written on it. Phil couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm of the kid, a few minutes back he was feeling shy to even come in front of them and now it was totally different. 

"We're gonna need a band aid" Melinda said. 

Leo nodded his head fast and opened the box he had, he looked up to Skye and asked "do you like .." He looked back inside the box and continued "Thor, Captain America, Yoda, Bumblebee, Hulk or dragons ?" He looked back at Skye waiting for her answer who didn't even hesitate before saying "Thor" with a huge grin, she seemed to have forgotten her injury. 

Melinda looked at Phil who seemed hurt that his daughter chose Thor and not Captain America, Melinda knew well how big a Captain America fan Phil was. 

Leo handed over the band aid to Melinda, who quickly covered Skye's injury with it. 

A moment after admiring her new accessory, Skye looked at Phil and said "daddy look !! It's Thor". "Wow that's beautiful, but hey what do you have to say ?" Phil asked. 

"Oh" Skye replied and turned back to May and Leo and said "Thank you Melinda, Thank you Leopold" 

"You're welcome" they replied unanimously and Leo added "you can just call me Leo" 

"Okay" Skye replied with a grin. 

Melinda got up to sit on the single sofa beside the couch where Phil and Skye were sitting. Leo had gone to keep his med box inside and joined them back a minute later and climbed beside Skye onto the couch.

"The weather's getting bad outside" Melinda said a moment later, while pouring the hot tea into the cups. Phil nodded and replied "I know, it was already a bit bad when we were leaving, I thought it'll get better, but seems like a storm". 

"Skye would you like some hot chocolate milk ?" Melinda asked. 

"Yes please" Skye replied with a smile. 

"Mamma me too" Leo joined in. 

Melinda chuckled at that, and gave the 2 kids, the two cups of hot chocolate milk she had brought, they were now warm enough for the kids to drink easily. 

"I think we should drop the idea of travelling tonight and leave tomorrow" Phil said taking a sip from his tea. 

"Definitely, we can't travel in a weather like this" Melinda answered. 

Again awkward silence fell into the room. Melinda looked at Phil, who was busy looking at his daughter and Leo chatting. He looked at them with so much love and affection that it brought a smile on her face as well, it felt nice to have someone around during this time of the year. 

She had known Phil for almost as long as she had stayed in New York. His mother had been her mother's friend and when Melinda had announced she was going to do her further studies in New York, Melinda's mother had told her friend who offer to help her settle in. She had met Phil a few times and before she could know they had become very close friends, rather best friends. That was also almost 15 years ago, they had changed a lot in that time frame, Melinda became a neurosurgeon, while Phil did Law and became a lawyer and was now a partner in one of the biggest firms in NY. Melinda had always appreciated his admiration of legal studies, the way he used to be so fascinated when speaking about it, it wasn't just a profession for him, he was one of those guys who really wanted to make a contribution towards the betterment of the society. 

They had been in love, one would say that saying what you had was love, just after dating for 3 or 4 months wasn't really wise, but they had been, though none of them ever confessed that to the other but both of them knew. It was almost as if they were made for each other since the day they had met, but then for 6 years Melinda had shifted to San Francisco after a better job offer, they tried the Distance Relationship method but it just wasn't the same and they eventually broke it off, later she met James, got married, had a kid, who was around 6 months old when James realised he wasn't ready for the responsibility of a kid yet and when after trying to work about it they realised they weren't meant to be, so they got divorced. Leo was an year and a half then. Thus for a fresh start, after 2 years since the divorce, she came back to her older life here in New York.

Phil on the other hand also had gotten married to Audrey, had a daughter, who was barely an year old when his wife passed away in an unfortunate accident. An year after coming back to NY, Melinda and Phil connected when he brought in a friend to the ER, and happened to meet Melinda when she was called in for a Neuro Consult, at first it was a bit awkward to rekindle an old friendship, let alone romance, but it was nice to see him and they became friends again.   
After a few months and post lots of nudging by his friends and his mother, Phil decided to ask May out for a date. She at first hesitated, it was a long time since she'd tried the dating scene, and if things should turn serious, she had Leo to think about, but she knew Phil, she knew that no matter what, their friendship wouldn't change so finally agreed. They had been in this cafeteria near his firm 2 days back, when she had told him how she was worried about Christmas and was wondering what to do and he offered her to join them on the trip, this way the kids could meet each other too and they could meet the other one's kids too.   
The spark between them had never vanished. They still felt the same attraction they had all those years ago, they would still feel that tug at heart when the other one came, just both of them not sure how to take things further than the first date. Phil still feeling that Melinda hadn't gotten over her divorce with James, and Melinda feeling that Phil was yet to recover from the loss of Audrey. 

So here they were, sitting in the same room, not knowing what to do or what to talk about.  
Phil glanced up and noticed Melinda had been looking at him. He gave her a small smile and she smiled back in return. Things were better, better than before, that was for sure. 

The kids didn't hate each other, that was a bonus, and Leo seemed to have liked Phil and Skye didn't really dislike May, so maybe they could give dating another shot.

"Mamma, if we're not going out what should we do ?" Leo asked after a few minutes, running up to Melinda, breaking Phil and Melinda from simply looking at each other smiling. 

Melinda lifted Fitz to make him sit on her lap and asked "What do you wanna do ?" 

After thinking for a moment Leo answered "we should watch a movie" Leo said. 

"Why don't you ask Skye if she wants to watch a movie ?" Melinda whispered into his ears. 

"I don't have any girly movies, like fairies and princesses" Leo whispered back into Melinda's ears. Well it wouldn't be technical called whispering because Phil and Skye could easily hear what he said. 

"I don't like fairies and Princesses" Skye replied. 

Leo looked at her surprised "you don't ? But all girls like that stuff" 

Skye shrugged her little shoulders in what May would say, was the most adorable style "I just don't, do you have Mulan or maybe Avengers ?" Skye asked curiously. 

"I will get my dvd box here" Leo said getting up excitedly. 

"Leo wait" Melinda said shaking her head. She knew once the DVD box was out, Leo would make a mess by throwing them all here and there while choosing one for himself. 

She indicated Leo to come to her and he did as told.   
"Why don't you take Skye to your room and you guys can choose a dvd and bring only that dvd here ?" May asked whispering to him and stressing on the word only.   
Leo could be a messy kid at times, especially when he was excited but the thing was he was a neat freak when it came to his own room. He would keep everything in place and keep it neat and clean. 

Leo nodded his head and walked upto Skye and put out his hand for her to take it "let's go and select a movie for us to watch Skye" Leo said.

Skye looked up at her dad, eyes wide with excitement. Phil realised that the girl had totally forgotten about the fact that she was injured a few moments back, and the excitement in her eyes was something he loved to see but he knew she wouldn't go without his permission, so he nodded his head with a small smile and Skye took Leo's hand and they took off. 

Both Melinda and Phil couldn't help but smile at how adorable they looked, holding each others' hands like 2 siblings. They also smiled as that thought entered their mind. They knew that they'd been thinking of things that might not ever happen, but also that whether, Phil and Melinda would have a relationship that'll work out or not, their kids were going to be good friends for sure.

"He's a really enthusiastic kid" Coulson said, trying to start a conversation. 

"Yeah, he is. He can go hours and hours talking, especially if it was anything to do with science, but at the same time he can be really quiet when he is angry or sad, but yes he's a very good kid, I'm really lucky to have him in my life" Melinda replied looking towards the hallway where the kids had vanished.   
Phil could sense the pride in her voice as she spoke about Leo. She was a great woman, a strong woman, never gave up easily. She became the Chief of Neurosurgery at a very young age and had worked very hard for that position. She had always been a fighter. He had wished he was there for her when things between her and her ex had gone sour, but then if he was there then maybe there wouldn't have been an ex in the scenario afterall, but that meant she wouldn't have had Leo and he wouldn't have had Skye, and that wasn't something he wanted to have happened. 

"She's a lovely kid too" Melinda said looking at him with a smile, breaking his rail of thoughts.   
"Yeah she is, sometimes she can get a bit hyperactive but I manage" Phil replied with a chuckle. 

A moment of silence and then Phil said "It's not easy, sometimes I don't know what to do with her, especially now that she's going to pre school and has started to ask questions, about her mother, but I manage" he replied softly. Their meeting in the cafe was small and a bit awkward but right now it was comfortable. They hadn't really spoken about their kids in the times they had met before that, just not being sure when to raise the topic. 

"I know, I can understand, this is Leo's first Christmas since he started going to Play School and he wants to do so much, and I can't handle everything, but I'm lucky I don't have any scheduled surgeries this year, and I have a nice department to manage things if they go south" Melinda replied. 

Phil looked back and smiled at Melinda. She could understand his troubles well and he could hers. They had always been in perfect sync. He didn't need to hesitate before sharing his troubles with her, he didn't need to think twice before speaking about Skye with her and that made him happy. He had been on a date or two after Audrey's death and they had all ended quite awkwardly, but that didn't seem with May, if things were to be considered, this was almost already like their second date, that was the first time a date had progressed to ever since his return back to the dating scene. Melinda was a lovely person, a strong woman, a great mother, she would have a good influence on Skye, even if they didn't succeed at dating again, he would want Skye to have Melinda in her life as someone she could look up to. Maybe this would work out if they gave it a shot. Should he ask her now if she'd like to give their relationship another shot ? 

"Melinda I ..." He started to speak but was cut off by the voices of kids running and shouting in excitement as they came back to the living room. 

"Daddy daddy .." Skye said running up to Phil and he lifted her up. "You know also has so many lovely movies and toys and sciency stuff" Skye said excitement in her voice. 

"Does he ?" Phil asked, admiring his daughter. It gave him so much of happiness to see her smile. 

"Mamma .. You know what movies we chose ?" Leo asked. 

"Movies ? How many did you choose ?" May asked her kid. 

"We chose Mulan" Leo said. "And Thor" Skye joined in "and Captain America" Leo added "oh oh !! And Iron Man" Skye replied making dreamy eyes. Phil couldn't help but giggle at that. He knew how much Skye liked Iron Man. His little daughter had a little crush on Iron Man. 

"So what are we gonna watch ?" Melinda asked. 

"All of them" the kids replied in unison. 

Both Phil and Melinda knew that the kids would be off to sleep by the time one movie was over. 

"Ok" Melinda replied "I'll go get popcorn" she said standing up. 

"And juice" Leo added. 

"Orange Juice if you have please" Skye added a bit hesitantly. At first Melinda wasn't sure if she should let Leo have juice before going to sleep, but then seeing the way Skye asked her, she thought why not! It's Christmas season afterall. "Of course Skye, I'll get that for you" Melinda replied with a smile. 

Once she left Skye got down from Coulson's lap and stood on the ground now looking at him. 

"Daddy do you know Leo has lots of Captain America stuff" Skye said with a grin. 

"Does he ?" Phil asked, eyes wide and a huge grin on his face. 

"Oh yes, I saw his room, he had his poster,toys and even a shield" she replied. 

Leo looked up hesitantly before saying "I really like Captain America, he is strong and brave and a good guy" 

"Yes he is Leo, did you know even I am a big fan of Captain America ?" Phil asked beaming as the kid spoke about his childhood hero. 

"I know" Leo replied nodding. 

"You do ?" Phil asked surprised with the kids response. The kid paused before inserting the dvd and looked back at Phil and said "yes, mum told me about her friend Phil, who loved Captain America, and since you're Phil ..." He trailed off. 

The kid was indeed very intelligent, Phil thought, at the same time he felt glad to know that Melinda used to speak about him with Leo, even though they hadn't really kept in touch after a few months post breakup and not because they didn't want to but just because life had gotten so busy, it was nice to know that she hadn't forgotten him. Even he used to remember her once in a while, especially when he would buy macadamia nuts cookies. 

"You need any help with that ?" Phil asked Leo who seemed very busy with the DVD player. 

"Oh no thank you sir, Mumma has taught me how to use this, I'm a quick learner she says" Leo replied. 

"You sure are" Phil replied and added "and no need to call me sir, Phil is fine" 

Leo turned to look at him with a smile and nodded. 

Once the whole movie was set, Phil was sitting on the couch with Skye sitting beside him. Her head resting on his chest while he led her securely. Leo was sitting beside Skye waiting for May. 

May came in with 2 huge bowls of popcorn, orange juice for the kids, she had asked Phil if he'd like to have something to drink but he had refused. 

She was about to sit on the solo couch when Leo started shouting "Mumma ! Mumma ! Sit here, beside me" 

"It's ok Leo, I'm fine here" Melinda replied. It wasn't that she had any issues with that but maybe it would make Phil a bit awkward. She knew that Leo himself would come and sit beside her once the movie began. That's how it had always been. 

"No!!! Skye is sitting with her daddy, I wanna sit with you!!" He replied making a pout that could convince May to do anything, and Leo knew that well. She did have an intelligent kid. Phil looked at Leo smiling. The kid was adorable, he looked extremely cute, he seemed to have taken most of his looks from his dad, but he was stubborn like May, and that pout was definitely from May, he still remembered clearly the way Melinda used to pout. He giggled at that. He tilted his head towards the empty space on the couch. 

She walked over to the couch and sat there. Leo pulled up the blanket to May who covered herself and Leo with it, while extending the other end towards Coulson for him to take it, to cover him and Skye with it. 

It didn't take long for Leo and Skye to get totally engrossed as Mulan was set to leave her Father's house to join the war. 

Skye looked up to her dad, and indicated using her palm for him to bend down so she could whisper something in his ear. 

"Daddy .. Mulan sounds just like Melinda" she said. Coulson chuckled at that. He remembered telling Melinda the same thing once, he had actually called her by that name to tease her and she simply rolled her eyes.   
"Yes doesn't she ? You should tell her" He whispered back. 

Nodding her head, pursing her lips, the girl glanced back at Melinda, who had rested her head on top of Leo's head who was hugging his mum tight. 

"Melinda ..." Skye said softly. 

"Yes sweety ?" Melinda asked looking at the girl, Leo doing the same. 

"Are you Mulan ?" She asked. 

Coulson almost giggled at that but then Melinda stared at him and he stopped. 

"Why do you think so ?" Melinda asked Skye. 

"Because she sounds like you, and even looks like you" Skye replied. 

"Yes yes Mum! Skye is right" Leo replied nodding his head, making his curls fall over his forehead. 

"Well I do sound like her don't I ? Who knows maybe I am" Melinda replied with a smirk on her face as the kids widened their eyes in surprise. 

This was nice, it felt homely and nice, it had been a long time since Melinda had felt this way during this season. James had never really been fond of Christmas, he used to visit his parent's place just for the sake of it, or maybe go out with her for Christmas shopping, only because she had asked. He wasn't Scrooge but he was no fan of the festivities either. It was during Christmas time when he had proposed to her.After Leo was born, and she and James started having issues, Christmas didn't go well for her. It was after a long time that she had felt nice, happy and fun when Christmas came, she felt like the Melinda she used to be before things changed in her life, Phil used to love Christmas, he had been with her during her first Christmas in the city, their first kiss was under a mistletoe at his friend's place, they were good times.

Phil glanced to see Skye seeing the movie with her full attention. He was a good father, he knew that. He always felt that he needed to fill in the empty space that Audrey had left, and he tried his level best. His daughter loved Christmas like him, decorations, building a snowman, snowball fights, everything about Christmas and with his mother's help he always tried to give her a memorable Christmas, but this year they weren't lots of decorations because they'd planned to go out but the weather betrayed them, he had felt sad about disappointing his daughter, but today thanks to Melinda and Leo, her daughter was having fun and if the weather complied maybe they could make that trip afterall tomorrow morning where they would have a proper Coulson Christmas, Leo would enjoy it, so would Melinda. Audrey used to like it a lot as well. Christmas with Melinda contained so many memories, their first kiss, shopping with her, forcing her into a snowball fight, it was soon after new year that Melinda had moved out of NYC, and they never got a chance to celebrate Christmas together after that until now, and he felt happy. After a long time he felt happy, he missed Audrey no doubt, but he felt that maybe it was time to move on. 

By the time the end credits rolled, Coulson realised the kids had fallen asleep. He looked back at May who seemed to have noticed the same.   
Carefully escaping Leo's grip, she lifted up the kid and whispering to Coulson that she'll be back in a moment, took Leo to his room.   
She tucked him into his bed, whispered good night, and kissed his forehead. It was like a custom, it had to be done every day.   
Switching off the lights and shutting the door slowly she walked back to the living room to see Coulson, already wearing his jacket, holding Skye and helping himself wear the shoes. 

"We should get going" he said softly looking back at May with a small smile on his face. 

The weather wasn't fine, she knew that, but maybe Coulson would feel awkward if she had asked him to stay, but then he couldn't drive in a weather like this, it would risk his life and Skye's. There was nowhere in the world she'd allow that. 

"Stay here" she said suddenly and continued to clarify herself "I mean the weather is bad, you can't drive on the streets like this, it's a risk, Skye's asleep anyway, we have a spare room, you and Skye can use that" she said. 

"I don't want to be a trouble" Coulson replied. 

"Oh! Please you're no trouble, c'mon Phil, we're friends, it's ok" she said. Friends seemed the right choice of word at this moment. 

Nodding his head, Phil walked back into the room and followed May up the stairs.

She took him to the guest room. 

"My room's in the end of the hallway. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need anything. There are a set of fresh towels in the cupboard and I can get you a new brush, Leo should have an extra one for Skye" she said. 

Phil nodded and went over to tuck in his daughter. "Good night Angel Eyes, daddy loves you" he whispered. "I love you too Daddy" Skye mumbled in her sleep. 

Melinda brought back a new set of brushes for them while Coulson stepped out from the bathroom, after washing his face. 

"Thank you so much Mel" he said stepping out of the room to stand with Melinda in the corridor, who was now leaning on the railing.

"Hey c'mon, there's no need for that" Melinda replied. "I should be the one thanking you Phil, it feels nice to see Leo this excited for Christmas and even though we couldn't go out, he enjoyed because you and Skye came" she replied. 

"Yeah, even Skye enjoyed a lot, she is a bit hesitant at making friends but she seems to bond well with Leo, she was surely surprised after the Mulan reply you gave" he said chuckling and Melinda giggled at it as well. Phil glanced at Melinda, she did have a beautiful smile, she used to smile so often, but now it was a bit less, but here she was with him smiling and laughing. 

"I hope the kids will enjoy the next few days, we can take off for the visit if the weather is better tomorrow" Phil replied. 

"Yeah, and even if it isn't, the kids will enjoy this festival" Melinda replied, looking at Phil with a smile on her face. She just knew that this Christmas was going to be a good one. She had that gut feeling. 

They stood like that for a few minutes, enjoying the silence. They understood each other's silence really well, It wasn't an awkward silence but a happy one. 

A moment later Phil took Melinda's hand in his and looked at her. She startled a bit at first but then relaxed and looked back at him. 

"Melinda .. I'm not going to force you into anything but I'd like you to know that I'd like to give this a shot, I'd wait till you're ready, but today felt nice, after a long time, so ..." He trailed off, he always babbled when he was with her. 

"Yes" Melinda replied softly, gripping his hand tighter "I'd like that.. But Phil if it doesn't work out..." She added. 

"Nothing will change" he replied. 

She looked up at him and smiled as he moved forward to give her a hug. She rested her head on his chest while he rested his chin on her head. They stood like that for a moment. 

She slowly broke from his embrace, to find Phil looking at her. He didn't know whether he should take this next step or wait, Melinda knew what Phil was thinking and was wondering how to respond. Making the decision finally Phil leaned towards Melinda, and Melinda found herself lifting her head towards him. 

The sound of the thunder broke the intense moment, just before they were about to kiss and Melinda stepped back a little. 

"Leo's scared of thunder"   
"Skye hates thunder" 

They both said simultaneously and laughed a bit at that. 

Once again holding her hand for a moment and squeezing it tight, Phil let go off her and went into his room, while Melinda got down the stairs to go into Leo's. 

They'd kiss, soon enough, as of now things were fine. They would give this a shot and hope it would work, right now they had to get to their kids to assure them of their presence.


End file.
